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The smallest margin of error comes with a big cost
Harsh exit for Finn Hamill at World Beach Sprints
Finn Hamill's built a reputation on doing things his own way and the first 150 metres on day three of the World Beach Sprint Championships in Turkiye looked like another groundbreaking moment.
The third seed was up against France's Mathis Nottelet in the round of 16 knockouts and the pace and intensity of his start was eye-watering. The rating graphic had him at 55 strokes per minute, but early on he could easily have been clocking over 60.
But as the New Zealand team have constantly been reminding themselves, small mistakes can be terminal in coastal.
For Finn, it was going the wrong side of the second slalom buoy on the way out to the turn for home.
"So dumb, so dumb," was Finn's initial response.
"It was going so well, it felt easy. I just didn't do my usual thing of checking my own course as much, which is dumb because I've got not the greatest vision to start with. I [also] lost track of Joe [Sullivan] doing the steering stuff from about the first buoy…so I just locked into my course. But at that point, I would usually look myself. But I didn't and that's the dumb part. There was quite a bit of current which I didn't take into account either."
The anguish of those wasted seconds re-negotiating the pass on the correct side must have been felt along the venue, which is squeezed in among the resorts all along what's known as the Turquoise Coast.
"When I did look, it was like, 'S***, I'm way on the other side'.
"If I had managed to just sneak my nose round, I reckon I still could have dragged it back, but it was just too much time mucking about. I was bloody p***** off when it happened, but I was still trying in that anything can happen sort of thing."
Finn's misfortune made the rest of Nottelet's journey to qualifying for the last eight almost a formality, the Frenchman clocking 2 minutes 31.61 seconds, 13.18s up on Finn.
A devastating blow for finn after such a strong start.
Emma Twigg saw it all unfold as she was preparing for her knockout run against Peru's Pamela Patricia Noya Reyes.
"Watching your teammate have a terrible time like that is obviously not ideal, so I guess the key thing from those situations is to learn from them.
"I definitely took it conservatively around my course, especially the top mark."
The attention to detail from the New Zealand team is becoming obvious in every facet of the beach sprints.
Emma's sprint down and back up the beach is something she's really been working on.
"We've probably paid a little bit more attention to it, knowing that it's an important part, and I'm lucky enough to have Angus Ross as my strength and conditioning coach, who's also one of the best sprint coaches in New Zealand.
"My physio Rone Thompson from HPSNZ, is really good at the dynamics of sprinting too, so they've been trying to build me up in that area."
The sprint was convincing, and so was the speed on the water, Emma winning in 2.44.31 and more than seven seconds ahead of Noya Reyes.
Emma will take on Lithuania's Raminta Morkunaite in the quarter-finals at 9.05pm Sunday (NZT).
Emma's sprint down and back up the beach is something she's really been working on.
Erin James and Matt Dunham faced Portugal in their round of 16 race.
They were beaten by a faster crew on the day, although Matt's never-give-up sprint to the buzzer only reinforced Finn's belief that anything can happen.
Matt and Erin had already proved that anyway, Erin deciding after a long break that she still hadn't finished with top-level sport and Matt getting a last-minute call-up to the Men's Four for the World Rowing Championships in September.
Erin James (stroke) and Matt Dunham put it all out there and never gave up in their Mixed Double knockout.
Andy Hay
Andy Hay is a freelance producer, writer and Maadi Cup-winning coach. He was cox of the world champion New Zealand eight of 1982 and '83. He is NZ Olympian #446.
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- Home
- /
- International Regattas
- /
- The smallest margin...
The smallest margin of error comes with a big cost
Harsh exit for Finn Hamill at World Beach Sprints
Finn Hamill's built a reputation on doing things his own way and the first 150 metres on day three of the World Beach Sprint Championships in Turkiye looked like another groundbreaking moment.
The third seed was up against France's Mathis Nottelet in the round of 16 knockouts and the pace and intensity of his start was eye-watering. The rating graphic had him at 55 strokes per minute, but early on he could easily have been clocking over 60.
But as the New Zealand team have constantly been reminding themselves, small mistakes can be terminal in coastal.
For Finn, it was going the wrong side of the second slalom buoy on the way out to the turn for home.
"So dumb, so dumb," was Finn's initial response.
"It was going so well, it felt easy. I just didn't do my usual thing of checking my own course as much, which is dumb because I've got not the greatest vision to start with. I [also] lost track of Joe [Sullivan] doing the steering stuff from about the first buoy…so I just locked into my course. But at that point, I would usually look myself. But I didn't and that's the dumb part. There was quite a bit of current which I didn't take into account either."
The anguish of those wasted seconds re-negotiating the pass on the correct side must have been felt along the venue, which is squeezed in among the resorts all along what's known as the Turquoise Coast.
"When I did look, it was like, 'S***, I'm way on the other side'.
"If I had managed to just sneak my nose round, I reckon I still could have dragged it back, but it was just too much time mucking about. I was bloody p***** off when it happened, but I was still trying in that anything can happen sort of thing."
Finn's misfortune made the rest of Nottelet's journey to qualifying for the last eight almost a formality, the Frenchman clocking 2 minutes 31.61 seconds, 13.18s up on Finn.
A devastating blow for finn after such a strong start.
Emma Twigg saw it all unfold as she was preparing for her knockout run against Peru's Pamela Patricia Noya Reyes.
"Watching your teammate have a terrible time like that is obviously not ideal, so I guess the key thing from those situations is to learn from them.
"I definitely took it conservatively around my course, especially the top mark."
The attention to detail from the New Zealand team is becoming obvious in every facet of the beach sprints.
Emma's sprint down and back up the beach is something she's really been working on.
"We've probably paid a little bit more attention to it, knowing that it's an important part, and I'm lucky enough to have Angus Ross as my strength and conditioning coach, who's also one of the best sprint coaches in New Zealand.
"My physio Rone Thompson from HPSNZ, is really good at the dynamics of sprinting too, so they've been trying to build me up in that area."
The sprint was convincing, and so was the speed on the water, Emma winning in 2.44.31 and more than seven seconds ahead of Noya Reyes.
Emma will take on Lithuania's Raminta Morkunaite in the quarter-finals at 9.05pm Sunday (NZT).
Emma's sprint down and back up the beach is something she's really been working on.
Erin James and Matt Dunham faced Portugal in their round of 16 race.
They were beaten by a faster crew on the day, although Matt's never-give-up sprint to the buzzer only reinforced Finn's belief that anything can happen.
Matt and Erin had already proved that anyway, Erin deciding after a long break that she still hadn't finished with top-level sport and Matt getting a last-minute call-up to the Men's Four for the World Rowing Championships in September.
Erin James (stroke) and Matt Dunham put it all out there and never gave up in their Mixed Double knockout.
Andy Hay
Andy Hay is a freelance producer, writer and Maadi Cup-winning coach. He was cox of the world champion New Zealand eight of 1982 and '83. He is NZ Olympian #446.
